"
Sure enough, thin columns of smoke were rising from several points on
the land. It could not be doubted that these were caused by human
agency. They were not visible when the party sat down to breakfast.
The appearance of the ship was their obvious explanation, but not a
canoe or a solitary figure could be seen, though Courtenay and others,
at various times during the day, searched every part of the neighboring
shore with field glasses and powerful telescopes.
After an all too brief burst of sunshine, the Land of Storms again
justified its name. Giant clouds came rolling in from seaward. The
mountains were lost in mist; the glaciers became sullen, rock-strewn
masses of white-brown ice; the fresh greenery of the forests faded into
somber belts of blackness. Though it was high summer in this desolate
region, heavy showers of hail and sleet alternated with drenching rain.
At low-water, though the _Kansas_ floated securely in a depth of twenty
fathoms, a yellow current sweeping past her starboard quarter showed
how accurately Courtenay had read the tokens of the inlet. Many a
swollen torrent, and, perhaps, one or two fair-sized streams at the
head of the bay, contributed this flood of fresh water.
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